WEBVTT SOLEDAD: I’M SOLEDAD O’BRIEN. WELCOME TO MATTER OF FACT. WHEN GOOGLE RELEASED ITS TOP "HOW TO" SEARCHES FOR 2018, NUMBER ONE WAS "HOW TO VOTE" AND NUMBER TWO WAS "HOW TO REGISTER TO VOTE.” THAT’S JUST THE LATEST EVIDENCE THAT WHEN IT COMES TO UNDERSTANDING HOW GOVERNME WORKS, MOST AMERICANS WOULD GET A FAILING GRAD A 2018 SURVEY BY THE ANNENBERG PUBLIC POLICY CENTER FOUND MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICANS CAN NOT NAME THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT. 3 IN FOUR AMERICANS CAN NAME ALL THREE STOOGES. AND LESS THAN HALF THE PUBLIC CAN NAME A SINGLE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE. SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR, THE FIRST WOMAN TO SERVE ON THE HIGH COURT WAS CONCERNED PEOPLE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THE BASICS GOVERNMENT. SO TEN YEARS AGO, SHE FOUNDE I-CIVICS, A NON-PARTISAN, NON PROFIT THAT TEACHES CIVICS EDUCATION TO STUDENTS USING TECHNOLOGY AND GAMES TO MAKE THE LESSONS MORE ENGAGING. TODAY, JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR, WHO’S THE FIRST LATINA ON TH HIGH COURT AND A MEMBER OF THE I-CIVICS BOARD, HAS TAKEN UP THE CHALLENG SO NICE TO HAVE YOU WITH US. WHAT A PLEASURE. IF WE WERE TO GO OUT IN THE STREET AND TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT CIVICS, I GUARANTEE YOU NINE OUT OF 10 WOULD ROLL THEIR EYES AND HARKEN BACK TO SOME TEACHER LECTURING THEM IN SEVENTH GRADE AND THINK, BORING. YOU HAVE WORKED HARD TO CHANGE THE PRESENTATION ABOUT CIVICS. IT IS ALL ABOUT GAMES. WE HAVE 19 GAMES THAT TEACH CIVICS. THE KIDS PLAY THOSE GAMES AND LEARN ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT. ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR GAM, THE CHARACTERS ON THE VIDEOGAME ARE LAWYERS A CLIENTS WITH POTENTIAL PROBLEMS AND THEY GO TO THE LAWYER AND TELL THE LAWYER THEIR PROBLEM AND THEY ASK THE LAWYER, DO THEY HAVE A CLAIM? THE LAWYER TELLS THEM YES OR NO. THE LAWYER IS THE STUDENTS PLAYING THE GAME. IT IS A REAL-LIFE PARTICIPATION. SOLEDAD: AFTER T PARKLAND DAY SHOOTING, EMMA GONZALEZ EMERGED OUT OF T SHOOTING AND BECAUSE OF WHAT SHE HAD BEEN LEARNING IN HER AP GOVERNMENT CLASS, THEY WERE DEBATING THE ISSUES ABOUT GUNS. SHE SAID SOME DISCUSSIONS ON THE SUBJECT OCCURRED DURING THE SHOOTING WHILE STUDENTS WERE IN THE CLOSET. TALKING ABOUT HOW BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN TRAINED AND IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, CIVICS HAS BEEN MANDATED. >> RETURNING CIVIC EDUCATION TO SCHOOLS. IT IS ONE OF THE STATES THAT USES THE ICIVICS GAMES. THE STUDENTS INVOLVED IN CIVIC EDUCATION TRAINING ARE MORE LIKELY TO STAY INVOLVE AND IT IMPROVES THEIR LITERACY SKILLS. THESE STUDENTS ARE PROVEN TO DO BETTER BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTAND MORE THE VALUE OF EDUCATION. IT’S QUITE IRONIC THAT MANY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE REQUIRING THE STUDENTS TO PASS A CITIZENSHIP TEST HOW IRONIC THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE BECOMING CITIZENS KNOW MOR ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENT THAN CITIZENS WHO ALREADY EXIST SOLEDAD: WHAT COMPELLED YOU TO COME IN AND TAKE OVER SOME OF THE WORK OF JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR? SHE WAS MY ROLE MODEL. WE ARE ABOUT 20 YEARS APART IN AGE. IN 1979 WHEN I GRADUATED FROM LAW SCHOOL, THERE WERE NO WOMEN ON THE SUPRE COURT OR THE HIGHEST COURT OF NEW YORK, AND THERE WERE VERY FEW WOMEN WHO WERE JUDGES. THE NUMBER OF WOMEN LAWYERS WAS SMALL AS WELL. I WA ENTERING THE PROFESSION THAT I WAS NOT SURE WAS WELCOMING OF WOMEN. SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR GAVE ME HOPE. NOT ABOUT BECOMING A JUSTICE, BUT MAKING PROGRESS IN T LEGAL FASHION AND THE HOPE I COULD ACHIEVE SOMETHING WORTHWHILE. SOLEDAD: DID SHE REACH OUT TO YOU? WHAT BROUGHT TO WIN -- >> I WISH I COULD SAY SHE DID THAT DIRECTLY. I DID IT TO MYSELF. I WAS AT AN EVENT HONORING HER. THE HEAD OF THE I-CIVS ORGANIZATION WAS SPEAKING IN HER TRIBUT EXPLAINING IT IN MORE DETAIL. SHE CAME BACK TO ME AND SHE SAID, JUSTICE O’CONNOR IS STEPPING BACK FROM PUBLIC LIFE. THE BOARD WOULD LOVE TO HAVE ANOTHER JUSTICE BE AS ACTIVE AS JUSTICE O’CONNOR WAS. SOLEDAD: ONCE YOU GAMEIFY IT AND MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND IT IS ABOUT CURREN DAY LAWS, OPPORTUNITIES, RIGH -- >> WE ARE IN A DEEP CRISIS SURROUNDING CIVIC PARTICIPATION. FOR ONE OF THE MOST ROBUST DEMOCRACIES IN THE WORLD, WE HAVE ONE OF THE LOWEST VOT REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION NUMBERS IN THE WORLD. THERE HOPE. LOOK AT THE LONG LINES PEOPLE STAND ON TO VOTE. DESPITE HORRIBLE WEATHER, I HAVE WATCHED MINES IN FLORIDA WITH THE HEAT BEATING DOWN ON PEOPLE. THEY DON’T LEAVE. THEY STAY. WHAT WE HAVE TO GO BACK TO IS EXCITI PEO

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Justice Sotomayor: We Are In A Deep Crisis of Civics Participation

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Updated: 5:12 PM CST Jan 4, 2019

Less than half of all Americans can name a single Supreme Court justice and more than two thirds can’t name all three branches of government. It’s bigger than a crisis of common knowledge; lack of civics knowledge keeps people from fully participating as a citizen. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, was concerned about this knowledge gap and created a non-profit to engage and educate students. Now, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has taken up her mantle. She sits down with Soledad O’Brien to discuss the country’s democratic future.